Focus Magazine

[Jack Bower]

I've been seeing a lot of photographers advertising in Focus Magazine, and I'm wondering how they're doing?

[James Carthros]

I heard from a rather reliable source that they were in financial turmoil. I was told they had 1 more issue to press then are evaluating the publications future. In other words pay per issue for now or risk a big loss.

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

Besides, you should know, you are the editor........otherwise AKA David S.

It is sad you have to resort to this kind of thing to fish for comments on your magazine. Simmons at least has the ba!!s to use his real name.

[Kirk Gittings]

….As he smugly wipes the blood from his sword and with a flourish slides it deftly into the scabbard…..

[Mark_3632]

SO, Jorge, How do you know he is the editor? I'm not trying to be a jerk, just can't figure out how you know.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Spivak used to do this kind of thing on APUG until he was banned. It's pretty familiar behavior. I reported it to the LF forum moderators this morning and included a list of all the IP addresses he used on APUG. They can confirm it.

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

SO, Jorge, How do you know he is the editor? I'm not trying to be a jerk, just can't figure out how you know.

Not at all Mark, it is only natural you would be curious. I thought someone would ask.

It is actually funny, this guy got banned from APUG, so he signed up under the name photomaniac....of course he could not resist using an avatar.......which was a picture he had shown under DavidS and had on his magazine web site...lol...

So then I found it curious that someone would ask about the magazine on this forum...lets face it, we are a very close community and most of us "know" each other for years now....so I checked his e mail....and what do you know? the e mail address is photomaniac3000......lol....

What pisses me off a little is the fact that this guy thinks we are too stupid to catch on and does not even have the courtesy to plan his fake identities so they are at least a little different......how dumb can you be?

[robert_4927]

That's to bad. I just recieved a copy of Focus and thought it was pretty well done at first glance. Of course I haven't read it yet. Why was AKA...jack bower banned from a forum? I was hoping Focus would give us another choice in the LF photography magazine dept. Now it seems apparent that Focus has problems also.

[Tedd]

I myself have never seen Focus but I have purchased the first issue of "The Large Format Journal".
I am impressed and really hope this will be a continuing and an additional source for the LF community.
I just hope they work on the website more....
If anything is gives us Europeans a magazine closer to home.
http://www.thelargeformatjournal.com/index.html

[jdc_6089]

"Why was AKA...jack bower banned from a forum?"

He would spam the site similar to what he is doing here, but mostly he was banned for incendiary comments. In his relentless pursuit of pumping his mag he would lose his way and start hurling nasty insults at those who disagreed with him.

[Joe Smigiel]

Jack Bower? LOL. Right or left? Pick it up.

[Melchi M. Michel]

I've said it before, but I agree with Ted that The Large Format Journal seems to be heading in the right direction. It is unfortunately only available as a pdf and the web site definitely needs work, but it's worth checking out.

[David Luttmann]

Good detective work Jorge. I must admit I never read Focus mag....but it is funny the editor would resort to this.

[Alan Peck]

Large Format Journal is pretty cool indeed. I had contacted the author (John Brewer) of thier cyanotype article for the same thing but they beat me to it. From a new user point of view it was very helpful. I should be making my first cyanotypes this week.

[Alan Peck]

In the spirit of disclosure, I should mention that I am the Art Director for the not-yet-published Emulsion magazine. Thought you all should be aware :)

[robert_4927]

Jorge, You old Gumshoe....lol...But my question is..... Does this mean that my one year subscription consist of only one issue?

[Eric Biggerstaff]

Alan,

I have heard about Emulsion , when is the first issue to appear?

[David Luttmann]

Eric,

My understanding was that Emulsion was now cancelled by Kodak along with their B&W papers.... ;-)

[Eric Biggerstaff]

LOL, I wouldn't be surprised that is for sure!

[Alan Peck]

I can just imagine getting a cease and desist order from Kodak...

Eric, I've been finishing the lay-out this last week or so and we should be handing it off the the press in Dec. I hope that means mailing them the first part of Jan.

I am now intimately familiar with the monumental pain in the ass a magazine can be. My hat's off to everyone who does it. Still, as an art director, developing the look and feel of a brand new magazine is about the coolest thing I can think of. It doesn't hurt that I really like photography.

In my smallish office I have the magazine layed out on the walls and it pretty much covers all of it from the ceiling to about 4 or 5 rows down. Wish I had a really wide angle lens to record it.

[John_4185]

Alan I am now intimately familiar with the monumental pain in the ass a magazine can be.

And before this you thought Editors were a pain! Now ya be one.

[neil poulsen]

It's unfortunate for a magazine to use these kind of tactics. It becomes apparent to so many people.

[Alan Peck]

John,

I would never wish to be an editor, not in a million years! I'm content just to make stuff look good :)

[Paul Kierstead]

That is some very nice work jorge. It is indeed insulting to the intelligence.

I will have to look up the journal and look forward to Emulsion.

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

I will have to look up the journal and look forward to Emulsion.

I liked the Journal pretty well, it is worth checking out and for $2.50 maybe lend them a hand and buy an issue.

The only crticism I had was that they had too much text on the portfolios. But overall I think it was a good beguinning.

[John_4185]

Alan, my comments were intended in good spirit. I was a photographer in the magazine world (for what it wss then), and much later a magazine editor and later, I was BOTH! We know the difficulties, but you, Sir, are the one living in it. Mybest. I am looking to retiremenst; whatever that means.

[Alan Peck]

John, I knew you were joking, sorry if it didn't come across in my post :) Thank you for understanding my pain.

[Eric Rose]

Jorge AKA Zorro!

[John_4185]

I liked the Journal pretty well, it is worth checking out and for $2.50 maybe lend them a hand and buy an issue.

I did the $2.50 PayPal thing to download a copy, but receiving the password is not automatic. It's been someting like 18 hours so far without a response. Perhaps someone with some serverside experience and time to give away can lend the author a hand.

It would be ironic if it took longer to get the download permission than to receive a copy by snail-mail.

[clay harmon]

I've been waiting a week for a password for the damned thing. I'm beginning to think it smells like a scam. Not very professional, to say the least. I have sent two emails requesting the password already, and am still waiting for a reply.

[David Luttmann]

My password was emailed within 10 minutes.....

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

Mine too......

[David Spivak]

Actually, Focus Magazine is doing just fine. A very well-known and respected large-format photographer, Tillman Crane, was just interviewed for our 5th issue. We have an entire year's worth of very well-known and respected photographer and collectors. The size of the magazine has also increased from 96 to 128 pages and the amount of subscribers and advertisers increase each issue. The sell-through rate on newsstands is phenomenal. Our circulation is nearing 15,000 and growing every day. We're interviewing high profile names such as Peter Galassi and Maclom Daniel (curators of photography at well-established and respected New York City museums) and truthfully, things couldn't be better.

[Marko]

[...] The Large Format Journal seems to be heading in the right direction. It is unfortunately only available as a pdf and the web site definitely needs work, but it's worth checking out.

It is very surprising to see how estranged the fields of photography and web design seem to be. And frankly, it is so sad to see how much injustice that alienation seems to do to some otherwise very good photographers.

In other words, their web site does not need work, they need a web site. I am saying this entirely without malice and they are definitely not the only such case.

Regards,